Forgive Me
by Kjpanny Kjchristie17
Summary: When Orihime healed Tsukishima, something broke inside of Ichigo and after the battle he falls into a dark despair. Bringing him out of it, is something only Orihime might be able to do.


"D-Don't, Orihime... Don't heal him."

Her face full of disappointment, barely revealed anger, made something snap inside his chest. Something wet trailed down his cheek and he wondered, dimly, whether it was raining.

It wasn't.

He was crying.

It wasn't enough that Tsukishima had taken everything from him. Now, he took Orihime too? Something inside him broke.

Rukia's appearance saved their lives.

He fought.

He won.

But, so many betrayals in one day broke something fundamental inside him. He had protected all of them. He had saved them countless times, and in the end they turned their backs on him.

He lost his ability to trust.

He knew it wasn't their fault.

Knew their memories had been manipulated.

But why hadn't they resisted? Why hadn't they fought for him?

He started avoiding them. It wasn't because he wanted to hurt them.

He just wanted to protect himself.

They didn't even apologize. They did nothing. It was like they had expected him to save them.

Ichigo had never felt that alone. It felt like he was drowning in despair when surrounded by them. So, he backed away. He isolated himself from them.

His father tried to talk to him, but Ichigo just gave him a blank look and told him he was fine.

Now, he was always _fine_.

A few days after the incident, Yuzu camee to wake him for breakfast. He wasn't there. Hearing a noise, she peeked out his window. He was already dressed and walking to school.

"Ichigo!"

He stilled and turned around slightly. His words were quiet, "What do you want?"

Yuzu froze.

Ichigo never talked to her like that.

Hesitantly, she ventured, "What about breakfast?"

He turned around and started walking away, "Not hungry."

This became a daily routine, till Yuzu stopped coming to wake him up.

Karin was a bit more persistent, "Ichigo, where were you last night?"

Her brother walked past her, to his room, "None of your business."

She tried again, "Ichigo, can you take Yuzu and me, shopping?"

He escorted them, but didn't talk to them, his face withdrawn, his eyes studying the ground.

They cried afterwards, in their father's arms. Isshin comforted them and told them to give their brother time to recover from the wounds.

At school it was no different.

His human friends were confused by his behavior. Tatski yelled at him. He just walked away. He didn't hang with them. Chad asked him what was going on.

But it was Orihime, whose reaction was different.

It seemed that Orihime had changed too. Her smiles had disappeared. There was this lost look in her eyes when she came to school after the incident.

She glanced at Ichigo's unmoving frame, bit her lower lip, and looked down at her book.

She didn't try to talk to him and he didn't so much as acknowledge her.

Orihime was often silent and her friends worried about her. But when they would say something, she would frown and walk away.

Ichigo would sit alone on the roof during break time and she would just sit just outside the door to the roof, hiding her spiritual pressure.

Uryuu found her one day and when he tried to question her, she burst into tears and rushed away.

The Quincy had had enough.

"What is wrong with the two of you!?"

He was the only person, Ichigo was semi-normal with and even he couldn't understand what was going on.

"Nothing is wrong with me. Stop bothering me, Uryuu."

So, the friends did the only thing they could possibly think of. They talked to Kisuke, or at least set up a meeting with him. However, to their surprise, they met with Rukia and Renji instead, both of who were very somber.

"Rukia?" Chad looked surprised.

She nodded at him, and told them to sit down.

"I hear something is wrong with Ichigo."

"It's like he is avoiding us."

They went on to explain everything that had been going on.

Throughout the conversation, both soul reapers remained silent. Finally, Renji spoke, "We came today to tell you guys something."

He looked at Rukia and she nodded, "Ichigo has asked to become a full time Soul Reaper."

Uryuu frowned, "What does that mean?"

Renji raised a brow, "It means that Kurosaki will live in the soul society for good. You will never see him again unless he is on a mission."

Chad's eyes widened with disbelief, "What?"

Rukia interlinked her fingers, "What happened to make Ichigo act like this? What started all this?"

"Ever since that battle with the FullBringers, he has started acting like this and -"

"Ichigo feels betrayed."

They all turned around as Kisuke and Yoruichi walked in.

"And all of you, with the exception of Orihime, don't realize that."

Yoruichi's face was grim, "You need to fix this."

"But it wasn't out fault." Chad protested, "Tsukishima's mind control -"

Yoruichi cut him off, "You think Ichigo doesn't realize that? He does, however, even he has his limit. And you've all pushed him past it."

Uryuu was silent for a few moments, and then, "What about Orihime?"

Kisuke spoke then, "She realizes what is going on and she doesn't know how to fix it. She and Ichigo have a special bond. Give her some time."

Orihime stared at the phone. Then picking it up, she dialed the number. She had to at least try.

However, when nobody answered, she closed it.

Closing her eyes for that spiritual pressure that had become so familiar to her, she left her apartment.

She _would _say it today! He had to know.

Tracking Ichigo was a hard task and by the time she found him, her face was red and she was panting.

He looked shocked and wary, "Are you all right, Inoue?"

_Inoue, not Orihime._

She raised a hand, trying to catch her breath. Finally, straightening up, she looked at him. She opened her mouth to say it, but the words were stuck in her throat

He'd called her _Inoue_.

Tears burned her eyes. She opened her mouth again but nothing came out. Instead, a rush of hot tears did. She took one step forward, then another, till her arms were around Ichigo's waist. Her sobs shook her frame, and she kept saying, "I'm sorry."

Finally, two hesitant arms rose to hold her closer.

Ichigo had never been able to control the protective urges roused by the orange haired girl with the gray eyes. When she had shown up, her form disheveled, he had thought the worst. But her eyes had teared up, a heartbroken expression on her face an she had rushed to him.

"I'm sorry."

She was apologizing to him. Did she know what for? He had a feeling she did. His chest ached and he wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer, burying his face in her hair.

"I tried to fight back. I really did! But he was so strong and -and -"

His voice was hoarse, "Enough, Orihime. That's enough."

But she shook her head, adamantly, her tears still coming, "I healed him! _How could I heal him_? And you just watched. And it hurt you! _I hurt you!_"

Her body shook violently, _"I hurt you!"_

He held her like that till the sun went down, and her sobs stopped slowly. He didn't stop holding her, his cheek resting on her head. They were now leaning against the wall. Her eyes were red with the tears and they both felt drained.'

"I put in a request to the soul society." His words were low, but she caught them.

"So, you're going to leave?"

"I don't know."

She turned around, facing him, her gray eyes looking up into those sad brown eyes. She hadn't realized that Ichigo could look sad.

"Please don't go."

Her hands framed his face, and he caught them in his hands, his eyes closing.

"If - If you go, then take me with you."

His eyes slid open and he studied her with that intensity she loved, "You want to go with me? But why?"

"Because you're very important to me and I love you."

He didn't respond to that, "What will you do there?"

"I'll heal you, take care of you, love you."

It was then that he kissed her.

"I won't go to the soul society. I'll stay with you. _Here._"

She pulled back, and stared up at him, "No. I want you to do what makes _you _happy, Ichigo."

He smiled, a very small smile, "I'm happy when I make you happy. I like it when you smile and when you start talking about random things. I like everything about you, Orihime."

He buried his face in her neck, and whispered, his breath tickling her, "And I love it when you watch me all the time, thinking that I don't see."

They remained together in silence.

Ichigo took her home that night for dinner, "I've brought a guest."

When he saw his sisters hopeful faces, he realized that he'd been so immersed in his own grief that he'd been hurting them. Scooping them up, he planted unexpected kisses on their cheeks which made them burst into tears. They held onto him so tight after that, refusing to let go, that he didn't even have time for Orihime. She just smiled at him, in understanding.

The next day at school, Chad approached him, but before he could say anything, Ichigo rubbed the back of his head, "I'm sorry for acting so weird, man."

Chad was stunned and when he saw Orihime running towards Ichigo, a broad smile on her face, he realized that somehow, someway, she had managed to bring Ichigo back. However, he spoke to Ichigo, apologizing. His friend looked startled and then shook his head, "Don't apologize for what you couldn't control, Chad. I was going through some stuff and that's why I was such an ass."

They both knew that it wasn't true but Chad let it be.

Things went back to normal after a while, but Ichigo took it slow, one day at a time because the wounds of the heart took time to heal, but Orihime had healed the biggest one of them.


End file.
